Tickled by YouTube scavenger hunts

A couple paragraphs posted on YouTube have illuminated something that might as well have been lost in the past to me [READER]( I have the tendency to fall down little rabbit holes while doing research for a story. My next big feature has presented me with a lot of opportunities to get lost in seemingly minor details. Does this mean my next story will be unusually long? Maybe! Should I warn my editor about this? Certainly! Will I stop digging for arcane clues that may not make the final draft of the story? Probably a little closer to the deadline! Anyway, one of my information-hunting expeditions took me through two books and several YouTube rips, and eventually dropped me off at the [Discogs page for Sport of Kings](. They're a local band that self-released cold, minimal postpunk in the early 1980s, a time period in which they contributed Bruce Pavitt's first two Sub Pop compilation cassettes. I found myself taken with the title track of a 1981 12-inch called On a Tall Building; front man Louis Bravos delivers chilled vocals over a repetitive, clanging drums and frostbitten guitars, and as the band shifts into its chorus his voice begins to crack and fall into a series of groans. I've frequently relistened to the song [on YouTube since I first heard it](. The digitized version I found has been on the site for almost ten years. Five years ago, Bravos (or someone operating an account under that name) commented on the video with some background information on the song. Sport of Kings remains a mystery to me—Bravos posted one follow-up comment noting that the group performed in public just twice, and didn't reveal much about themselves in the music they self-released. But I'm tickled that a couple paragraphs posted on YouTube have illuminated something that might as well have been lost in the past to me. And I love that a story I'm working on that's focused on people located thousands of miles outside of this city managed to lead me down a path that brought me back home—with a newfound appreciation of this city's rich musical history. Sincerely, 🏆 [Final votes must be in TODAY BY NOON!]( Have you helped your faves rise to the top? You're running out of time! ["We've Got a File on You: Korn's Jonathan Davis,"]( by Annie Zaleski (Stereogum) ["Deep-internet bubbles: How microgenres are taking over SoundCloud,"]( by Kieran Press-Reynolds (No Bells) ["An 8-Year-Old Wrote a Book and Hid It on a Library Shelf. It's a Hit,"]( by Alyssa Lukpat (New York Times) Room Nine, [Room Nine]( Loveshadow, [Loveshadow]( Basuraastillada / That Same Street / Your Arms Are My Cocoon, [Our Little Trains]( YAI, [Flowers From Home]( We've wrapped up season one of CQN! Listen back on all ten episodes [here]( or wherever you get your podcasts. [Antifolk band Boo Baby drop their long-in-the-works second album]( Plus: Beau Wanzer of Juzer helps celebrate the duo’s new posthumous 12-inch, and garage-soul group Hollyy release their sophomore EP. by [J.R. Nelson]( and [Leor Galil]( [Mitski returns to music stronger than ever with Laurel Hell]( by [Jamie Ludwig]( [Profiles in cautiousness]( On MAGA’s issues, including abortion, Richard Irvin and his running mate are too cagey to take a stand. by [Ben Joravsky]( [Issue of Jan 20 - Feb 2, 2022 Vol. 51, No.]( [Download Issue]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2022 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616